We've made it, Screenlanders. It's the SEASON FINALE of Screenland Season 1 and we're going out with the best movies of the year.

Joining us on this madcap arbitrary journey through the best and worst of 2025 is the man who made Screenland possible, because he used to force me to stay awake when we were kids and watch The Last Picture Show on RTÉ One, or some random-ass movie on RTÉ Two at midnight on a school night - it's my older brother, Andrew Lloyd.

Yes, for an hour and thirty-odd minutes, my brother and I ramble and meander our way through the best of the year, but specifically 'One Battle After Another', 'Bugonia', and Andrew's picks. In fact, here's the list we were both working off.

ANDREW

• 'One Battle After Another'
• 'Bugonia'
• 'The Long Walk'
• 'Lurker'

BRIAN

• 'One Battle After Another'
• 'Black Bag'
• 'Train Dreams'
• 'Sinners'
• 'I'm Still Here'
• 'Bugonia'
• 'Marty Supreme'
• 'Weapons'
• 'Friendship'
• 'The Naked Gun'

The prevailing logic in theatrical releases for the past three decades has been this - never bet against Big Jim.

'Titanic', 'The Abyss', 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day', 'True Lies' even? Come on. James Cameron is a force of nature. He has set the standard for blockbusters, so why the hell is 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' just so lacklustre and uninspired? Has he lost his touch? Is it simply his willingness to prove a point outpacing his ability to make a good movie? More to the point, who actually gives a shit anymore about Pandora? There's bigger problems right here on Earth.

Elsewhere, we preview the best movies of the year - yes, I have to rewrite my list because I saw 'Marty Supreme' and yes, the hype is real - and I get actually close to tears talking about 'The Princess Bride', so stay tuned for vulnerability I guess?

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It's a cruel twist of fate that a movie so bland and upsettingly poor should be heaped in with the worst movies of 2025. Yet, here we are nonetheless.

On the chopping block this week is James L. Brooks' well-meaning but misguided attempt at making local politics seem fun and sweet mixed with a romcom in 'Ella McCay', and no, we're not doing that stupid social media challenge either. Grow up.

The real portion of the show, however, falls to the worst movies of 2025. And folks, let's be clear on one thing - DO NOT WATCH ANY OF THESE MOVIES. THEY ARE ALL TERRIBLE. I SUFFERED THROUGH THEM SO YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TO. Did you know 'All's Fair' is getting a second season? Yeah, it's because you freaks decide to watch it and see how bad it was. And because of that, now we've got another season of that crap. Don't make the same mistake here.

By all means, listen to this episode and enjoy it if you can, but for the love of all that is good and just in this world, do not go and watch these movies out of morbid curiosity or some kind of weird masochistic thing you've got going on. Don't do it. Do literally anything else with the same time you'd waste on these. Read a book. Listen to another podcast. Take a walk. Enjoy a warm cup of coffee. Do anything other than watch these movies.

OK, next week's a much better episode. Tough it out.

We're hurtling towards the end of the year, but just before that, we've still got some movies and TV to get through.

First off, we're spending 'Eternity' with Elisabeth Olsen, Callum Turner and Miles Teller in this high-concept rom-com set in the afterlife with Irish writer-director Dave Freyne, with a special story about making an absolute CLOWNSHOW out of a Q&A at the Dublin Film Festival.

After that, we're going on a retrospective of sorts with Noah Baumbach's latest, 'Jay Kelly', starring George Clooney as a sort-of-satire of himself and a miscast Adam Sandler in this bittersweet bromance about life on screen and life beyond it.

To round things up and way, way, way late to the game, we're going in on Vince Gilligan's 'Pluribus'.

Good talk! Do it up!

Don't think just because we're now EIGHTEEN episodes in that we're slacking off. Oh no, sir. Not at all.

For this week's episode, we're going back to Hawkins for a runthrough of the first four episodes of the fifth and final season of 'Stranger Things', we're going cruising with Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling in 'Pillion', and we're raising the dead and the murder mystery genre yet again in 'Wake Up Dead Man'.

Elsewhere, Dee Molumby - late of entertainment.ie and the host of Dublin City Council's official podcast, What's The Story Dublin? - is our guest this week with a whopper of a pick in Emerald Fennell's directorial debut, 'Promising Young Woman'. We go in on Fennell's career, the upcoming adaptation of 'Wuthering Heights', is she a stylist or a charlatan, and more besides.

Good talk! Do it up!

It's an all-singing, all-dancing version of Screenland this week, folks. No, actually, it isn't.

Still and all, I'm trying to wrap my head around why musicals writ large do absolutely nothing for me - is it because I'm dead inside, or do I just hate all human joy in the world? Still and all, it's got Cynthia Erivo and she's just terrific so there's that.

In a wonderful bit of counterprogramming, 'Sisu: Road To Revenge' gets a ramble and reminisces about interviewing its taciturn director, Jalmari Helander, for the first one and just general good vibes guy Stephen Lang.

To round things all off, we're talking about the exhaustion on Sydney Sweeney and sports biopics generally with 'Christy', based on the life and times of WBA champion Christy Martin.

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Talk about a mixed bag this week, folks.

We start off with Dave Hanratty, he of NO ENCORE, lands on the shores of Screenland waving the flag of death for Edgar Wright's reimagining of 'The Running Man', the Stephen King-Richard Bachman novella about reality TV gameshows that never could have imagined a world where Mr. Beast was doing pretty much the same thing. Except, y'know, he's not killing people. That we know of. Currently.

Elsewhere, the largely forgettable 'Nuremberg' gets a going over while I get WAAAAAY too personal about Clint Bentley's 'Train Dreams' and, again, get WAAAAAY too personal about turning 4-0 this weekend. I am feeling a lot of *emotions* on this pod, folks. Be prepared.

It's not an exagerration to say that 'All's Fair' is the worst TV show of 2025, maybe the worst TV show of the past two decades. But is it really all that bad? Is it not just campy fun? No, it's not. It's actually a terrifyingly empty look into the world of the rich and is probably the most potent example of how wealthy people shouldn't make art.

Yeah, that's right. We're going there with this thing. After that, we're looking at 'Die My Love', the new Lynne Ramsey movie with J-Law and R-Pattz, we're looking at Daniel Day-Lewis returning to acting after nearly eight years away with 'Anemone', we're taking a quick sojourn to Northern England at the turn of the century with Hytner / Bennett's latest offering 'The Choral', and ending things with one of the most enjoyable movies of the year so far in 'Predator: Badlands'.

Get it on, do it up! Don't forget to leave a comment, a rating, a cheery anecdote, a missive, a whatever.

- Brian x

It's a bonus episode! For this week's offering, we're keeping this brisk and breezy with a semi-review-sort-of-mehness of 'The Witcher' Season 4 with Liam Not Chris Hemsworth replacing Henry Not Superman Cavill in the title role, while bemoaning the fact that most fantasy TV series look cheap and shit.

The main course, however, is Yorgos Lanthimos' sci-fi remake comedy 'Bugonia' with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons squaring off in a 'Misery' meets 'They Live' scenario with aliens, honey, billionaires, and uncomfortable endings.

Good stuff. Do it up.

Yes, I'm sorry, I'm very very late with this but I swear, I'm going to make it up to you. How, you might ask?

Well, for one, I'm giving you a VERY VERY VERY early review of 'Saipan', the much-anticipated sports drama about the infamous 2002 Saipan incident between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy, now immortalised in celluloid with Eanna Hardwicke and Steve Coogan taking on the roles. The movie's not out until New Year's Day, man. That's how far ahead of it you're getting. Yeah.

Elsewhere, I cracked open the Screenland Suggestion Box with contributions from you - that's right, you specifically - about this and that and other stuff.

Yes, I'm dropping this on Bank Holiday Sunday. But you know what? Better late than never. Do it up!!!!!!!